An anonymous shoplifter who admitted to stealing a book from a Miami store two years ago returned the merchandise with a note because they had a guilty conscience.
According to WFOR News, an unidentified girl walked into Books & Books and dropped off a book and an envelope at the front desk for the store manager and immediately left.
Inside of the envelope was an apology letter and $16. The book was Agatha Christie’s Third Girl.
The note read in part:
“In the summer of 2014 I came to your shop and being the angsty teenager I was I shoplifted a book. I immediately regretted it and have every intention of making things right but as we all know life works in interesting ways. I ended up moving to Mexico and hadn’t been able to return since.”
The letter also stated that the unknown girl was an “angsty, irresponsible 15-year-old” at the time but that didn’t stop her from having a guilty conscience after all these years.
“Hopefully this makes up for things. I am truly sorry about my stupidity,” the letter continued. “I would sign my name but I saw this one news article about a guy getting arrested for an overdue library book once and I can’t have that. Thank you for understanding.”
The owner of the store, Mitchell Kaplan, said he’s comforted by the girl’s action to right her wrongs.
“I was very heartened by the fact that, still this day and age, when things seem so rough and people seem not to be so cognizant of issues of conscience, that this young person had a conscience so well-developed, that she could be so reflective that it bothered her all these years and she made amends for it,” Kaplan told WFOR.
“I think the lesson is you need to say you’re sorry if you screw up and we all make mistakes in life.”
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